The words “Knoxville” and “Irish music” are not synonymous with one another. Often one hears about the singer-songwriter scene or the burgeoning indie rock emanating from North Knoxville by way of Fourth and Gill. Even the punk scene, circa 2005, was so strong that venerable zine Maximum Rock ‘n Roll featured the Marble City as that genre’s next big haven. But Irish music?
Four Leaf Peat, whose name is an amalgamation of the lucky clover and the bountiful moss found throughout the Emerald and British Isles, are out to change this conception of their place music. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Knoxville’s only “true” Irish band will let their Celtic rumble ramble on through Market Square and beyond.
Though they are not the only group in town who play music in the Irish vein, Four Leaf Peat are unique in that they play only instruments that are used in the Celtic tradition. These include a fiddle, the bodhran, which is a hide drum that is played with tappers of various sizes, a hammered dulcimer and the Irish variation of the Greek bouzouki. Coupled with the high-lonesome tone of Celtic music, Four Leaf Peat’s sound is, indeed, unlike any in town.
Gil Draper, the group’s resident mandolin and guitar picker, explained that even his instruments have been adapted to playing in the Irish tradition. “My guitar tuning is a relatively new one invented by an Irishman in the late 1960s,” Draper said. “Jimmy Page used it on the tunes ‘White Summer’ and ‘Black Mountain Side.’”
The bouzouki, Draper explained, is a step away from its Greek predecessor. The instrument’s tuning is said to almost drone, which is an important aesthetic of traditional Irish and Scottish folk music, notably in the Uilleann pipes and bagpipes. While this Irish bouzouki, like the D modal tuning Draper employs, was only brought into realization less than half a century before, the overall sound it creates is rooted in hundreds of years of sound.
The roots of the group itself are still working their way deeper. Fostered into fruition from jams at Patrick Sullivan’s Irish night five years ago, on one such occasion Draper met his future bandmates.
“I’ve played bluegrass mandolin in various bands for years, but I went to dinner one night and heard these guys playing and totally fell in love with the music,” Draper said. “I brought my mandolin, the next week we really grooved, and they asked me to join the band.”
One aspect of the band that might seem a hindrance to some proves a definite boost for the band. While all of the members maintain regular professional jobs, they keep a strict regimen of weekly practice, wherein they rehearse and work on new material.
“It’s pretty strict actually,” Draper said. “I hear a lot of local musicians talk about how they rarely get together and rehearse, but I think that when you hear us live it really pays off.”
While they play live fairly regulary, the group also has two full-length albums under its Celtic-knotted belt. The most recent, “The Next One,” was released last St. Patrick’s Day. Draper said the band is currently kicking around the idea of recording a third in the fall.
Four Leaf Peat will play the Square Room at 7 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $10 to $15 at the door.
